johnny cash song teminology, easy points for anyone who loves music?

Question

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler,
The gambler,
The back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
-------------------------------------------------------
I just got the latest Johnny cash CD, and on God's gonna cut you down, I was wondering exactly what a mighnight rider, a rambler, and a back biter exactly is?

Also, in The man comes around, this bit confuses me as well

And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree.
The virgins are all trimming their wicks.
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree.
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

thanks

Answer 1

who knows? Johnny was a drunk and a drug addict

Answer 2

Johnny Cash Midnight Rider

Answer 3

As you have discovered, Johnny's long career zenithed in musical genius before he died.

Midnight rider, rambler, and back biter are similarly dubious characters.

A midnight rider is a person who skips town in the night because he has ripped off a friend or someone who will know who just stole from him. I recommend you listen to the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider"

A rambler is just a person who doesn't stay in one place very long. But the Rolling Stones define a Midnight Rambler as somebody who sleeps with another man's wife. The Allman Brothers have a song called "Rambling Man" about a guy who gambles from town to town. So either case is a bad man.

Bob Marley has a song called "Want More" about a back biter, which is the same as a backstabber-- someone who pretends to be your friend but then uses you or puts you down for their own gain. My favorite backstabber song is by the O'Jays, called "Backstabbers"

In total, I think the song is about how someone or some institution that you trust who is actually out to use your naivety for his own advantage. In my mind it has to do with world politics.

The other song is also gloomy but prophetic. It seems to be about an apocalypse that comes in the form of a virus or something that can't be dealt with using normal defences. A whirlwind in a thorn tree would scatter the thorns in the air and prick a person to death. To me, he's talking about AIDS. Virgins prepare their candles for a premeditated evening without a man, knowing that having a man that night could be their doom.

Answer 4

Who Sings Midnight Rider

Answer 5

God's Gonna Cut You Down", also known as "Run On", is a traditional folk song which has been recorded by numerous artists representing a variety of genres. The lyrics are a warning to sinners that no matter how hard they try, they will not avoid God's judgement; in the chorus, God Himself tells the narrator of the song to "Go tell that long tongue liar, / go and tell that midnight rider, / tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter, / tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down", with some versions inserting slight variations in lyrics.

Only three of the fifteen tracks on the album The Man Comes Around were actually written by Cash; "The Man Comes Around" is the only one that Cash wrote for the album. It is partially sung and partially spoken, containing numerous Biblical references, predominantly from the Book of Revelation.
The song is introduced by a spoken portion in which Cash describes the coming of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, sounding of thunder and led by a white horse. The musical portion then begins with Cash reciting that a man (Jesus Christ) has arrived to pass judgment, and the world will be in terror as people await theirs. The chorus indicates that these events are accompanied by trumpets, pipers, and "one hundred million angels singing".
The chorus also repeats the point that "the whirlwind is in the thorn tree", a reference to Job 38:1 in which God appears to Job as a voice in a whirlwind.with Cash's, "It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks"

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
johnny cash song teminology, easy points for anyone who loves music?
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler,
The gambler,
The back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
-------------------------------------------------------
I just got the latest Johnny cash CD, and on God's gonna cut you down, I...

Answer 7

A rambler is like a drifter. Never settles down, midnight rider i'm not sure about. Probaly outlaws or something. Back biter sounds like it means traitorous people. Like backstabbing someone.

don't know about the other part.

Answer 8

I think both sets of lyrics are very self explanatory if you don't over analyze them. The first is a warning to sinners that there will be a judgment day in the presence of the lord.
The second is based on a biblical passage. And the entire song is about when Jesus reappears.

How about analyzing the song "Thirteen". Off of the third American recordings album (sorry I have forgotten the name) of his.
"I got the number 13 tattooed on my neck, when the ink starts to itch then the black will turn to red."

Answer 9

Honestly, I have no idea at all what those lyrics mean, but to me it sounds like many other songs where the artist puts down random words that sound good, but dont make sense. Maybe in God's gonna cut you down, it sounds like he's saying people who lie and/or sin will be punished by god? Like back biter, he could be talking about somone who stabs you in the back, but that's just my opinion.

Answer 10

A midnight rider could be someone that brings bad news from town to town, a rambler is someone who drifts from place to place or person to person, a back bitter is someone who talks bad about you behind your back.

Answer 11

midnight rider- person who cheats on his/her spouse/significant other

rambler- person who talks too much

back biter- somone who stabs you in the back.

can't help you out with that other part. i don't even get it and my parents are in the music biz. maybe it wasn't meant for anyone to decipher, maybe it was meant to remain a mystery.